Himeji castle current state

I understand Himejo castle will have scaffolding on it come April (10?) 2010. I will be visiting March 18th, 2010. Does anyone know if it will be partly covered by that point? Does anyone know what it looks like right now?

It will likely not yet be covered by scaffolding and the interior will still be open to visitors. See also the following thread:
http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+71393

Thanks!

i will be going to himeji too on 16 Apr, will it still be worth the trip??

It won't because by then the interior of the castle will be closed and scaffolding will be up.

I suggest you head over to nearby castles in Osaka or Okayama instead. If you want to visit something original (i.e. not rebuilt) then you could visit Inuyama Castle near Nagoya, or Hikone Castle which is near Biwako.

The interior will be closed from April 12, but the scaffolding is unlikely to cover the castle immediately. A rather uncertain appearing guard told me the other day that the castle will probably be covered up by the beginning of May:
http://www.japan-guide.com/blog/sakura10/100326_himeji.html

But then the other day I read on the following page that it will actually take months until the entire castle will be covered:
http://www.japantravelinfo.com/news/news_item.php?newsid=274

Was just in Himeji on March 18, it was completely uncovered. The interior was very bare, so you dont miss much if the interior is closed.

thanks for the info everyone would be disappointing to make the trip all the way there and not see much. but based on the info provided by uji it is likely i will still be able to see most of it as the work on the scaffolding would have only started for a few days.

only prob is pictures might not turn out as great, but then its a once in a lifetime experience. so i will be going on april 16th!